


I Love You, Always

by WalkerWasTaken



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Angst with a Happy Ending, Established Relationship, Lack of Communication, Light Angst, M/M, Miscommunication, POV Alternating, Post-Canon, mentions of minor character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:33:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27412015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WalkerWasTaken/pseuds/WalkerWasTaken
Summary: Victor and Yuuri are engaged, and have even moved in together (or, more specifically, Yuuri has moved into Victor's apartment in St. Petersburg). Victor is blissfully in love and ecstatically making wedding plans. He's taken Yuuri to three different bakeries to make sure they get THE cake. It isn't until Victor has a talk with Yurio that he realizes-Yuuri has never said he loves Victor.
Relationships: Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 18
Kudos: 211





	I Love You, Always

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, everyone! First work in the fandom! I wanted to emphasize a content warning here. Past character deaths are talked about casually, including a mention of miscarriage, though none of these happen with characters from the anime (except for the miscarriage). Detail is nonexistent, but do not read this if you are worried about being triggered. This probably makes the work sound scarier than it is, but I want everyone to be aware that tragedy is commonplace in this fic, and it will quickly become apparent why. I don't think anything in this fic warrants an archive warning, but feel free to suggest one and I will apply it. For those of you still reading, I hope you enjoy!

Victor Nikiforov is forgetful, but one thing he remembers vividly is _before_. Before Sochi. Before the banquet. Before Hasetsu. Before _Yuuri_. 

He knows that life shouldn’t be defined by your partner, and he knows that his life isn’t _defined_ by Yuuri, but that doesn’t change the fact that _before Yuuri_ was nothing but going through the motions. He was driven by the conflicting desires of wanting to surprise everyone while also meeting their expectations. So much of _him_ depended on everyone _around_ him.

Until Yuuri.

Wonderful, beautiful, sweet Yuuri who looked him in the eye and told him that all he wanted was to know _Victor_. Who helped him learn who he was, and taught him to be proud of it.

It’s because of Yuuri that Victor isn’t religiously tracking diets and perfecting jumps that he’s already mastered. It’s because of Yuuri that he calls Chris instead of just liking a photo on Chris’s only semi-active Twitter (Chris prefers Instagram but the app gives Victor so much stress that he only posts photos of Makkachin once a month). It’s because of Yuuri that Victor can laugh at Georgi’s antics rather than sympathise with him (the need for affection and validation was so suffocating sometimes that Victor used to _add_ jumps into his programs because he didn’t want anyone looking too closely at the gasping breaths after his performances). It’s because of Yuuri and their lovely matching rings that Victor is researching even _more_ bakeries to make sure that they have the perfect cake. Yuuri isn’t picky-he’s loved nearly everything they’ve sampled so far, and Victor loves everything Yuuri loves because anything that can make Yuuri smile like that _has_ to be a miracle-

But that isn’t the point. Victor wants _everything_ about their wedding to be perfect, and he wants everything that comes after to be perfect too. 

Victor wants to forget _before_. He wants to go back and _change_ it so he meets his lovely Yuuri _sooner_. Wants to save Yuuri like Yuuri saved him.

Victor’s hair may already be gray, but if he isn’t bald by his wedding day, it’s only due to the ridiculous amount he spends on hair care products that inevitably end up taking up the _entire_ bathroom counter in the apartment, forcing Yuuri to relocate his toothbrush to the closet in the hallway just outside.

Maybe he should dial back on the number of products, Victor can admit, but _after_ the wedding. His wedding photos are going to be _gorgeous_ and he is not going to let his stress-related hair loss take any attention off of his fiance.

“ _Yuuuuuuurrrrrrrraaaaaaaaa_ ,” Victor whines, “This is _awful!”_

“Why did I agree to this?” Yuri Plisetski asks, though Victor doesn’t know either.

“... because you knew that I’d be too much of a perfectionist to actually _finish_ my vows before the wedding?” Victor offers.

Yuri tsks. “Katsudon is a crybaby,” he says, though it lacks his usual bite, “You could say nearly anything and he’d start bawling happy tears.”

Victor smiles a little. “Yuuri’s so perfect! How am I supposed to put all of my feelings on paper like that?”

Yuri groans, but his features shift into something more thoughtful, and a little more guarded. “My mom wrote her own vows. They were… okay.”

Yuri’s mother is a sore subject, even now when she’s started to become involved in Yuri’s life again. Years of silence is hard to ignore, especially when the silence is broken with a wedding invitation. Yuri had gone, expecting to hate the groom as well as his mother and embarrass them on their wedding day. To everyone’s surprise, the man had sat Yuri down and told him everything. He was honest. He told the truth about why his mother left, how they met, how much she regretted not knowing him, and even how he sent the invitation without her knowledge because she was too afraid of rejection to try.

He’s begrudgingly grown to respect his new stepdad, and had even taken to occasionally texting his mom pictures of Puma Tiger Scorpion when he was feeling more friendly.

“Oh?” Victor prompts, not wanting to push, “What did she do?”

“She… She talked about when Alexei told her he loved her for the first time. She said she just knew that he was it.” Yuri is pointedly not making eye contact, “You sounded a lot like her after Sochi, even before you knew Katsudon loved you back. Just… talk about that. Even I don’t really know much about your relationship after you left Hasetsu.”

Victor opens his mouth to tell the story only to realize-

_Yuuri’s never said he loves Victor._

Even when Victor says it first. Even when they kissed on international television. Even when they had their first time. Even when Yuuri _proposed!_

His panic must have shown on his face because Yuri fixes him with a strange look. “What the hell does _that_ face mean?”

“He’s never said it.”

“What?”

“He’s never _said it_.”

Despite Yuri’s many attempts at reassuring Victor, with many _“of course he loves you”_ s and _“I’m sure he’s said it”_ s and even a _“He might not say it with his words, but the Pig speaks volumes when he skates. He loves you. He’s loved you since before he started skating. He skates for **you** ,” _Victor can’t shake off the pit forming in his gut.

“Tadaima!” The love of his life greets, taking off his shoes and placing them next to Victor’s.

Victor answers habitually, “Okaeri.”

Victor hears Yuuri’ shuffling from their bedroom, and Makkachin _boof_ s excitedly, smelling the takeout Yuuri promised he’d bring home. Yuuri looks for something in the fridge-probably the almond milk since the store only offered dairy or soy and Yuuri may be lactose intolerant but he has _standards_ and-

Maybe Victor was wrong about Yuuri being picky. Maybe Victor doesn’t really know Yuuri at all.

“Vitya,” Yuuri starts, oblivious to Victor’s mood, “did you tell Yuri that he could stay for dinner? I was hoping he could eat with us tonight-” There’s more noises from the kitchen as Yuuri continues talking idly. It feels like only seconds pass before Yuuri seems to sense that something’s wrong, “... Vitya?”

Victor gets out of his bed- _their_ bed-and joins his fiance in the kitchen. Makkachin’s tail wags as Yuuri separates some of the fat from his steak-

Yuuri prepares these frozen fat ball things for Makkachin that make her excited for _days_ leading up to it and well-behaved for all of the days following it. She _boof_ s again, placing her paws on Yuuri’s lap as he takes a seat at their table.

“How’re your vows going?” Yuuri asks conversationally, not minding the _not-begging_ poodle trying to snack off his utensils. “I tried talking with Mari about it but… well, she’s _Mari_.”

Victor knows what he means. He loves Mari as if she was his own sister, but he’s always sensed a strange distance between her and everyone else. She doesn’t seem to dislike people, or even fear them in the way her younger brother sometimes does, but she fixes you with that look and you know everything and nothing all at once.

“She kept saying,” Yuuri continues on, politely pausing so as not to talk with his mouth full, “that I need to find the balance between honesty and being like… poetic? Apparently vows are supposed to be metaphorical and obnoxious to the guests. I don’t really _know_ if that’s how Russian weddings work, but-”

“My vows are hard too,” Victor interrupts, though Yuuri doesn’t seem to mind the rudeness. “There’s so much that should be said but I just can’t seem to say it. Pretty much all I know is that I love you, and that I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

Victor hopes that he’s worrying for nothing, but he can’t seem to shake that fear. He needs to know.

Yuuri smiles, but it’s tense now, and Victor’s stomach lurches as he says kindly, “I want to spend my life with you too.”

That should be enough, shouldn’t it?

It isn’t.

It’s so _not enough_ that even Yuuri starts to worry. He wakes up before Victor, and often has to drag Victor out of bed at around noon so he doesn’t just lie there holding onto Makka all day. He cooks the foods Victor loves without prompting, and takes care of errands. He even tries to be more active in wedding planning, seemingly attributing the change of behavior to stress.

Victor is starting to question _everything_. He looks at the photos that have quickly been spread across Victor’s walls, wondering what Yuuri must have been thinking in each of them, behind the smiles and laughter. He wonders if Yuuri was laughing _at_ Victor instead of with him, or if he was faking laughter for some other reason altogether. He looks at the second umbrella by the front door and the physiology textbooks that have collected dust in his bookshelf and the little touches of _Yuuri_ that have brought life to the place where there wasn’t any before.

He looks at the empty space on their desk where Nadia’s (terrarium? Tank? Victor doesn’t know what a tarantula enclosure is called) home used to be, and he recalls how upset he’d been when Yuuri called him on his run and _begged_ him to take in this tarantula that Phichit bought. (Nadia’s previous owners were irresponsible and didn’t know what they were doing. Phichit had bought her during a visit to St. Petersburg but she wasn’t well enough to be shipped to Thailand. Yuuri and Victor ended up taking care of her until she could go to her new home). Victor wondered about how nervous yet adorably excited Yuuri was, about how he held Nadia like she was something precious and _worth_ something.

He wonders if he, like Nadia, is just temporary.

“I love you,” Victor says now, more than anything else. It’s his new mantra, his lifeline.

Yuuri smiles that tense little smile and pays him compliments, or kisses him, or holds him closer. It _feels_ like love, but it must have felt like love to Nadia too. She, like Victor, arrived in Yuuri’s life fragile and half-starved, and he loved her until he gave her up.

It doesn’t matter that Yuuri still asks Phichit for pictures of Nadia, or that he still asks after her and the hamsters when they call. The _‘doesn’t she look stressed, Victor’_ s and the ‘ _look at how big she’s getting’_ s and _‘Phichit is trying a new diet for her and she is being soooooo uncooperative’_ s don’t matter. It doesn’t matter, because there is no Phichit for when Victor’s cast aside. There isn’t someone to take care of him and help Yuuri love him from afar.

What’s left of Victor after Yuuri’s gone?

“Vitya,” Yuuri practically begs, “Please, let’s do something together. We could go for a run! Or, uh, or maybe go out with Yurio and see that new movie he _hinted_ at being interested in! Or, we could check out that-” He seems desperate to see Victor be _alive_ again. It was common for them to go out together, being the young, reasonably wealthy couple they are.

Victor shoots it down, tempting as the idea sounds, “I’m tired, Yuuri.” He doesn’t feel like going out. Last time they did, he couldn’t help but feel like everyone _knew._ One look at him and Yuuri and they’d just _know_ how smitten Victor is, and how heartbroken too.

“Oh.” Yuuri says, deflating a little before offering, “We could order a pizza then and watch some tv. Whatever you want.” And the worst part is that Yuuri looks like he _means it_ , like he’d hang the moon if only Victor asked.

“Sure.” Victor says, but it’s not what he wants.

He wants to go back to not knowing. He wants to be able to go to the movies with Yuuri and Yura and maybe Mila and probably Georgi, who is recovering from his most recent breakup. He wants to be able to call Chris and watch him and Yuuri play some video game while they all chat over the phone. He wants Yuuri to _love him_.

“Yuuri,” he says after Yuuri finishes ordering the pizza, “I love you.”

Yuuri places a kiss on Victor’s cheek before saying, “Go pick something to watch and I’ll grab some drinks.”

“Yuuri,” Victor says, grabbing Yuuri’s arm to prevent him from pulling away, “Please say it.”

Yuuri gasps like he’s been wounded, all of the air leaving him in a rush. “Vitya…” He trails off, looking like he’s about to cry.

Victor tightens his grip slightly, his emotions getting the better of him. “I love you, and I need you to love me too.”

“I…” Yuuri starts to tear up, and Victor wants to hold him but Victor wants to _be held_ and Yuuri doesn’t love him.

“Do you want to call it off?” Victor asks, the words burning like poison on his tongue.

Yuuri shakes his head hysterically, “No, of course not! I want to marry you _so_ much.”

“Why?” Victor asks, “Why do you want to keep me if you don’t love me?”

Yuuri shakes his head, “No, no, no, no, Vitya. I-” He bites his tongue as if to trap the words from leaving his mouth. “It’s not… You’re beautiful. You’re so fucking beautiful and being with you makes me _so_ happy and I’m sorry I can’t be what you deserve-”

“I deserve a fiance who loves me, Yuuri,” Victor says.

Yuuri pulls away, rushing to the bathroom where he locks the door behind himself. Victor hears his fiance sob from the other side of the door where he sits leaning against the wall. He doesn’t leave aside from collecting the pizza when it arrives at the door, and the delivery boy politely ignores the puffy cheeks and red eyes.

Victor has been distant, and Yuuri can’t even blame him. Victor couldn’t really be expected to just _be okay_ with Yuuri and everything that comes with it. Thinking that this all would work was really just a fantasy to begin with, and Victor’s been nothing short of perfect so far. Yuuri’s family FaceTimed as usual, babbling excitedly about the couple’s upcoming trip to Hasetsu and Victor put on his media smile and talked about all the things he wanted to do when they got there.

Yuuri’s heart shattered when Victor directed that smile at him. That smile. That _fucking_ smile that Victor reserves for strangers and grief and-

And Yuuri.

And it’s all. Yuuri’s. Fault.

It’s only a matter of time before their loved ones notice. Phichit asks why Victor seems to be out of the house so often these days. Yakov calls, asking Yuuri if he knows why Victor’s lessons with the beginning skaters have become so… detached. Listless. Just like Victor these days.

It’s hardly a surprise when Yuri drops by unannounced while Victor is out. It’s not a coincidence, and Yuri doesn’t pretend anything else. The teenager stomps into the apartment, ignoring Yuuri, who stands in the doorway offering tea.

“Why haven’t you fixed things with him?!” Yuri demands, “The old man has been _miserable_ and you’re here offering _tea?!_ ”

Yuuri continues nonchalantly, wanting to placate the raging teen, “I have jam if you prefer jam with your tea-”

Yuri risks, flicking his hair as he looks Yuuri in the eye, “What is _wrong_ with you? I wondered if maybe you just didn’t _know_ you hadn’t said it, but at this point it’s _intentional_ and that’s low, even for you.”

“My relationship with Victor-”

“-is over if you don’t _fix_ this! I don’t care if you love him or not, but this is just cruel.”

“Yurio, I-”

“That is _not_ my name. Do you love Victor or not?”

Yuuri doesn’t know what to do anymore, or what he’s supposed to say, or even if he’s supposed to _stay_. His anxiety tells him to shut up and go and heart _begs_ him to stay and Victor _loves_ him and deserves so much better-

Yuuri takes a steadying breath, because he feels as if he might collapse at any moment. “Did I ever tell you about-”

“Yuuri.” Yuri says impatiently.

“It’s important.”

Plisetski flicks his hair aggressively, throwing up his hood to appear larger. Yuuri can’t tell at this point whether or not Yuri is even aware he’s doing it. “Then spit it out!”

“My family, for generations, has been quite involved with magic, and some of us have even practiced it.”

“... Are you saying you’re a witch?”

“No! Quit interrupting me!” Yuuri scolds before continuing his story, “The first of my relatives to become entangled with magic was my great grandfather, and he was the person who started _Yuutopia_ with his wife. He’d grown close with a woman who possessed an affinity for magic, and she, in an unexplained fit of rage, cursed him.”

“What?”

“The woman he married died on the doorstep of the hospital after delivering their first child, and the child fell ill shortly after. She survived, but she lost the ability to hear and some of her vision. My great grandfather eventually remarried, and she drowned 3 months after. He spoke to a customer at the resort about his mother, and how much he loved her. Within 2 hours, she had dropped dead from a heart attack.”

Yuri blinks, “What the fuck.”

Yuuri nods. “His daughter had planned to elope with a man who’d repeatedly expressed interest in marrying her, against her father’s wishes. She had told him that she returned his feelings, and on their way to the altar, his sister died in a fire. They remained together their whole lives, but it quickly became apparent that bad luck followed the couple. Death followed them too closely to be coincidental. The husband was killed in a home invasion, and their children witnessed it from under the bed. Their first son is my father, and he’d been recovering from the trauma of what happened to his father when he met my mother.”

“No.”

“He’d been mute when they met, and when they dated, and even long into their marriage. When his voice returned, they’d already had Mari, and he no longer believed in the curse story. He thought it was just my grandmother’s way of processing her grief, and so he told my mother how much he loved her. Over. And over.”

“No. No, why would he _do that_?!”

“She and my father had three miscarriages.”

Yuri flinches, “The shrine.”

“Their clothes are in a box placed in front of the shrine in my parents’ home, as well as my grandfather’s ashes.” Yuuri says, looking stricken, “My parents stopped trying after they finally had me. They didn’t want to risk it, and I’ve never heard them say they love each other. Their communication is nonverbal, and I’ve followed their example. Mari… Mari plans for this curse to die with her.”

“You… you literally can’t say it, can you?”

“I told Phichit once that I loved him, because we didn’t believe that platonic love was affected. I was _wrong._ ”

Yuri freezes. “His sister.”

“His sister,” Yuuri confirms, “became paralyzed in the car accident 4 days later, and I can never apologize to Phichit enough to _fix that.”_

“And you never told Victor _any_ of this?!” Yuri questions, becoming angry, “This could have fixed everything!”

“Implied love is just as powerful as explicit,” Yuuri says, “Telling him this instead of confessing would be a moot point, because he’d still know, and I’d still be the one that told him.”

“You… And your family? Phichit? _No one else_ could have told him?”

“They were all afraid it would end the same as if I told him.” Yuuri says, starting to tear up, “I… Victor told me that he deserves better, _and I agree with him_ but I’m so terrified that leaving him will hurt the both of us as much as staying.”

“I’m telling him.” Yuri says it resolutely, and Yuuri knows it’s pointless to argue.

Yuuri tries anyway, “What? Yuri, you can’t!”

“ _He_ gets to make that choice.” Yuri practically growls, “He needs to know, and he needs to decide whether or not he can accept this. You can’t expect him to marry someone he _believes_ doesn’t love him!”

Yuuri has to concede that. It’s only fair to Victor, but it doesn’t settle the fear. “... Only tell him about the curse. If you say anything else, it could hurt him anyway.”

“Yuri told me about the curse.” Victor says at the airport while they wait for their flight, “He also told me why you and your family couldn’t tell me either.”

Yuuri nods, avoiding eye contact.

“I’m sorry for what I said. I love you. I love you, even if you never say it back. It doesn’t-Well, it _does_ hurt me, but I understand and I… I promised I’d meet you where you were, right?” Victor smiles, and it’s small but it’s _real_ for the first time in weeks. He begins to panic when tears start to travel down Yuuri’s cheeks. “We’re okay. We’re going to get married and this curse business is going to be a distant memory.”

“Victor… I… Please don’t do this. Don’t do this for me-”

“I’m doing this for _me_ , Yuuri.” He says, “You’ve made me happier than I’ve been in years, and I’ll do whatever it takes to convince you.

Knowing what he does now, Victor knows that Yuuri loves him. Unfortunately, this love also stands between him and Yuuri. He needs to fix this, however he can, and the answer, surprisingly, comes from Yuuri’s father.

“I know what you’re feeling,” he says one night after some sake, “My wife hasn’t told me she loves me in decades, and it’s all because of this curse.”

Victor can understand that. Part of him recoils whenever Yuuri doesn’t say it back, even knowing what he does now, even knowing that they could _literally_ both die if he said it. “I just don’t understand why.” And he doesn’t. Who would curse a whole family? _Especially_ the Katsukis, who are the most loving and caring people Victor has ever met. “ _Why_ would someone do this?”

“What do you mean?”

“Who just… _curses_ people?”

“Oh. Well, isn’t it obvious?”

Victor raises a brow.

“Well, when I was mute, I had a lot of time to think, and I thought a lot about this curse. I convinced myself it wasn’t real because, if it _was_ real, then Tsuchigumo must have been in love too.”

“Tsuchigumo?”

“The woman who cursed my grandfather,” he clarifies, “Only a woman in love seeks blood like she did. Why else would she curse love specifically, and why would it usually hurt the object of our affections more than us?”

“You… I can’t believe I hadn’t thought of that.”

“Why would you have? You’ve known for what? A couple days?” He pours more sake, “I think Mari figured it out too. She told me when she was little that she was afraid of what love would do to her.”

“Because of what would happen to her loved ones, right?”

“I think she’s more worried about becoming Tsuchigumo. Not everyone has handled this curse as… gracefully as we have. My brother killed a woman for leaving upon finding out about the curse, and my sister’s been alone most of her life because, even without the curse, loving women as a woman yourself can be one of the hardest things you can do.” He turns to Victor, “It’s why I was so grateful Yuuri found you. You hold onto him just as tightly as he wants to hold onto you.”

Victor doesn’t know what to say to that, and he seemingly doesn’t have to say anything because he’s quickly reminded of exactly how much Yuuri took after his father. The man starts removing his clothes and Victor has to coax him into retiring for the night.

Victor has a plan.

_Tsuchigumo Shizuki._

Victor finds the girl quicker than he expected, though she lives several towns over. His search was made easy when Mari lent her newspaper to Makkachin, who got to work tearing it up. Among the shreds was an ad for _Tsuchigumo Alternative Medicine_. Between the name and the promise of _effective, ritualistic healing_ , Victor knew that this was the lead he was looking for. Some googling yielded Yelp reviews that describe a teen who has relieved symptoms of chemotherapy provided pain relief to former addicts.

Of course, she’s not the one who cursed Yuuri’s family, but her parents or even grandparents might even be able to help cure it.

When he asks to talk with the teen’s parents, he’s surprised when she laughs at him. Her long black hair is swept back into a bun, which has become frayed at the edges due to the humid heat of her shop.

“I don’t have any,” she says, “So, how can I help you? Are you here for pain relief? You seem to be favoring that ankle.” She gestures to the ankle that didn’t seem to agree with the _Ice Castle’_ s rental skates. She’s perceptive, at least.

“You uh…” Victor’s plan pretty much ended here. He’s not sure where he’s supposed to go from here. “What can you tell me about the Katsuki family?”

The teen’s demeanor shifts immediately, “Oh. You should come into the back room. We’ll have more privacy there.”

He joins her in the back room, which seems to be a glorified staff room, complete with folding tables and a microwave. He notices immediately the rows of spider enclosures (he still doesn’t know what they’re called) lining the wall on the right. “Don’t mind them,” Tsuchigumo says, “let’s take a seat. I could prepare some tea, if you’d like?”

Victor politely declines the offer of tea. He tells her about him and Yuuri, and about everything else too. Mari. Yuuri’s parents. Yuuri’s grandparents. Yuuri’s _siblings_.

“I… have some explaining to do.” She says, surprising Victor.

“What? I don’t expect you to-”

“My name is Tsuchigumo Shizuki,” she says, “and I’m the one who cursed the Katsukis.”

To say Victor is surprised is an understatement.

“What.”

“I only meant to curse _him_ , I swear!” She says, “I didn’t realize that the curse would be passed down, or that it would drain so much of my magic. I really didn’t mean for this to drag out as long as it has and I don’t even know where the Katsukis _are_ after this long and-”

“What do you mean that you didn’t realize the curse would be passed down?”

“Do you not understand Japanese very well? I’m not sure where that’s confusing.”

“You mean that you _didn’t_ intend to curse the whole family?”

“Of course not.” She says, “Who would curse someone’s kids and grandkids because he was a jerk?”

“Why would you curse him anyway?”

“He… he was the only person who seemed to care about me. Everyone else was either frightened by me or by my spiders.” Victor can kinda sympathise with the latter, especially before Nadia. “We were friends, and he’d suggested to me once that we might marry someday. He told me that he didn’t think he’d ever love someone the way he loved me.” She huffs derisively, reminding him alarmingly of Yuri. “Pretty words, aren’t they? I thought so too. I believed him, of course, until he told me that he was marrying someone else and that he had no _use_ for me anymore.”

Victor shivers at that. He’s had similar experiences with past lovers and friends. “I would have cursed him too.”

She nods, “He deserved it, and I don’t regret cursing him, though I might have gone about it differently if I’d known that his family would get involved. I’m honestly surprised the curse hasn’t been broken by now.”

“It can be broken?!” Victor’s excitement must show, because she laughs lightly.

“All curses can be, but _how_ it’s broken depends on the purpose _and_ the person doing the cursing,” she says, “I wanted to curse his ability to love, because it was so shallow, so I thought it would be fitting to make that the way to break it.” She moves toward her wall of spiders, plucking a smaller one out of its nest. The arachnid practically preens at her gentle touches. “I didn’t know until _after_ he got married that he actually detested spiders. I caught him setting fire to a nest at the park. It seemed poetic to make his cursebreaker contingent upon him caring for a spider.”

Victor freezes, but she doesn’t seem to notice because she continued, “I knew that if he ever managed to love a spider like that, then he’d have learned enough about love to regret how he treated me, and that’s all I had really wanted at the time.”

“You’re saying that if a Katsuki owned and took care of a spider, the curse would be broken? For all of them?”

“They’d have to actually care _about_ the spider too, but yes. It’s pretty simple, really.”

_“Do we have to send her to Phichit?” Yuuri asks, on the brink of tears as the couple prepare the tarantula for transportation._

_“Yes,” Victor reminds gently, “Phichit has been so excited to have her, and you know that he’ll be better at taking care of her.”_

_“But she’s… she’s so fragile.”_

_“She is,” Victor acknowledges, “but she’s much better than when she arrived, and you and I both know we can’t keep her forever. It’s time for her to go to her home.”_

_“But we’ll have to take apart her nest to get to her!”_

_“And she can build a new one.”_

_“But-”_

_“It’s okay if you’ll miss her, Yuuri, but she has to go.”_

_“I know,” he says, burying his face in Victor’s shoulder, “I don’t want her to leave.”_

Victor laughs. Loudly. Hideously. Hysterically.

“What’s so funny?”

“Yuuri broke the curse.” Victor says, smiling widely, “He broke the curse and no one even knew!”

When Victor returns to Hatsetsu, the Katsukis all seem similarly curious about where he’s been, considering it’s obvious from the lack of bags that his ‘shopping trip’ hadn’t gone as planned. When Victor explains everything, even going so far as to offer to call Tsuchigumo so she can explain as well, he doesn’t even get to finish before Yuuri _pounces,_ showering his fiance with kisses.

“I love you,” Yuuri chants between kisses, “I love you, Victor. I love you so much.”

Mari gags, though she doesn’t interrupt them, even leaving to grant them privacy (though the other Katsukis coo and laugh, and Victor realizes that this might be the first time they had so much unapologetic love in this family in decades).

“I love you,” Yuuri says when they return to St. Petersburg. “I love you, and your hair, and your smile, and your skating, and how much you love me, and the way you coach, and the fact that you’re a morning person and you try to make me one too, and _god_ I love you so much I was afraid it would literally kill you. Please, please, please, spend the rest of your life with me.”

Victor laughs, “Save some of that for your vows.”

_“Vitya.”_

“I love you too, Yuuri. Always.”


End file.
